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Tasmania puts $67m towards improving IT

Big focus on digital transformation.

The Tasmanian government has set aside $67.5 million in its state budget for 2017-18 to improve existing IT systems and deliver on its digital transformation goals.

Much of the funding falls under a $50 million "digital transformation priority expenditure program".

The largest chunk of the total pot will go to an ICT priority infrastructure drive at the state's health service. "Program deliverables" will be managed through the state's structured infrastructure investment review process (SIIRP) being run by Treasury.

The final cost of the project - which the government expects will be $18 million - is yet to be finalised.

A further $16.6 million will fund an overhaul of the state's legacy criminal information management systems to a new platform dubbed 'Justice Connect'.

The project has been driven by "the need to address the shortcomings of existing technology in key justice business systems", according to the government.

It has identified "a number of significant problems with the management of information in the criminal justice sector that are impeding its ability to effectively deliver services to the Tasmanian community".

It wants to replace existing systems with a service-oriented and contemporary architecture that offers better information sharing and integration, as well as timely access to information.

The police and fire department has been given a total of $13.1 million for 'Project Unify', an effort to replace the significant number of disparate core systems currently in use at the agency.

It will create an "integrated and sophisticated operational information system" that the department will use in its operational decision making and information sharing activities.

Tasmanian front-line police will jump on the body-worn camera bandwagon with a $3.5 million funding injection for the rollout, and the final chunk of money for the government's emergency services CAD system project - $2 million - has been handed out in this year's state budget.

Elsewhere, just under $3 million has been handed to the Finance department to replace its budget management system with "contemporary technology" that has already begun being implemented. The full rollout is scheduled for delivery in early 2018.

Another $6 million will go towards the Children and Youth Service's client information system overhaul, which will help fund the initial business case for the overhaul all the way up to its eventual delivery.

"The replacement of this system will require significant investment, but will be designed to improve efficiency and minimise the administrative burden on frontline child protection staff," the state said.

In addition, $5 million has been allocated to the replacement of Treasury's public account reporting and cash management system.

"In an ever changing technological landscape, the government understands the need to ensure that our ICT remains modern and capable of supporting frontline services," Tasmanian treasurer Peter Gutwein said in his budget speech.

"Therefore, in this budget, we have allocated more than $60 million for transforming our ICT systems to support front line workers to deliver the services that Tasmanians need through the implementation of important digital transformation projects."

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